Displacement chess
Encyclopedia
Displacement chess is a family of chess variants, in which a few pieces are transposed in the initial standard chess
position. The main goal of these variants is to negate players' knowledge of standard chess openings.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
position. The main goal of these variants is to negate players' knowledge of standard chess openings.
Variations
The following variations were tried in master or grandmaster tournaments:- White's king and queen are transposed. This arrangement was tried in a correspondence tournament in 1935 with the participation of KeresPaul KeresPaul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
, a chess grandmaster. - Queen's knight is transposed with king's bishop, so that both bishops are on the queen side and both knights are on the king's side, as shown in the diagram at right. This variant is sometimes called Mongredien chess, after Augustus MongredienAugustus MongredienAugustus Mongredien was a leading English chess master. Political economist and miscellaneous writer; born in London of French parents; gradually withdrew from business and devoted himself to literary pursuits; joined National Political Union, 1831; member of the Cobden Club, 1872; received a...
the sponsor of a tournament held in London during 1868 under the auspices of the British Chess Association, in which several strong British chess players took part, including BlackburneJoseph Henry BlackburneJoseph Henry Blackburne , nicknamed "The Black Death", dominated British chess during the latter part of the 19th century. He learned the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years...
. According to Pritchard, this is one of the most popular forms of displacement chess. - The knights and bishops are transposed.
- The rooks and bishops are transposed. This array was suggested by CapablancaJosé Raúl CapablancaJosé Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
after his match with LaskerEmanuel LaskerEmanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...
, but did not become popular. This variant is also called Fianchetto chess. - PP Random Chess: king remains on e1(e8) one of the rooks must remain on a or h file, the bishops are placed on opposite-colored squares. Proposed in computer chess playing client Chess4Net by Pavel Perminov.
External links
- D-chess.com – D-chess (Displacement Chess)
- Blackburne - Potter – displacement chess game (knights and bishops are transposed) with comments by Wilhelm Steinitz.